Gulf State Park - Gulf Shores, Alabama (September 2023)

We waited until checkout time before we left our wonderful site in a military FamCamp and headed west for our next Rosie adventure. (Rosie is the name of our Airstream trailer.) Gulf State Park was less than an hour away, so we didn’t have to rush to get there. 

We have a running joke about Gulf State Park's campground. It seems that every time we have reservations there, the rate increases between making our reservations, paying our deposit and arriving at the park. As we expected, we were informed that we owed more than the figure quoted on our reservations while checking in. This may be unique to Gulf State Park because I cannot think of another campground that regularly changes its rates between making reservations and check-in. 

Sign at the Gulf State Park

On the way to the campground

With more than 500 campsites in this park, we have never had trouble getting reservations until now. The reservation system claimed that the campground was full and we got one of the few remaining spots. We were confused by the vacant spots until the weekend, when the park really was full. 

Why is this Alabama State Park usually full? It has beach access along Alabama's Gulf Coast, full hook-up connections and more than 25 miles of bike trails through the bayous. We never go to the park's swimming pools or the tennis courts because we enjoy trails and the beach, but these are popular and well used by other campers in this park.

The beach at Gulf State Park

We were amazed at how quickly electric bicycles became the predominant vehicle used for recreation in this park. Sure, there were some e-bikes around the last time we were there, but it seemed as if everyone had them this time. We found ourselves having to avoid e-bikes while walking or on our pedal-powered bikes. 

One of our campsite neighbors told us that “Lefty” had three babies and was visible in the mornings. If you have camped in this park before, you probably know that "Lefty" is an alligator and tends to hang out in a specific location along one of the trails in Gulf State Park. We found Lefty and two of her babies the next morning. Our campsite neighbors said they saw all three of Lefty's babies later that day.

The famous park alligator, Lefty

Two of Lefty's three babies

I could not help but think about when we camped in Gulf State Park ten years earlier. It was very hot then and our first Rosie's single air conditioner could not keep the trailer cool. We made multiple visits to a store to buy window reflectors in an attempt to cool Rosie down.

Rosie in our campsite at sunset

Another photo of Rosie at sunset

It was hot a day or two on this trip, but our current Rosie has two AC units. Sure, we have reflective shields for all of the windows, but we didn't need them. We simply switched on both AC units and Rosie was quickly comfortable. 

We were able to make two side trips while camped at Gulf State Park. Our son and his family was about an hour away. We spent a weekend morning with them.

Our grandson practicing for his big game

We also went to the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo. This is a small zoo, but the animals were out and we enjoyed our visit there.

The lions were enjoying the day at the zoo

The sloths are always interesting and entertaining

During past visits to this park, we would see maybe one or two Airstream trailers in the campground. There had to be a dozen or more Airstream trailers in the park this time. These ranged from 50 year-old vintage Airstreams to brand new ones. We always enjoy talking with other Airstreamers, sharing tips with them and learning from their experiences.

One Airstream couple caught our attention. They stored their trailer in a commercial storage facility. We do too. They said about a year ago, a gang of thieves crashed through the gate at their storage facility and stole every RV parked there but their's. Why? Their trailer had a very strong and difficult hitch lock on it plus it had a wheel boot. The storage facility's video surveillance captured the thefts in progress. The thieves were able to quickly hook up the RVs and drive off until they came across the Airstream trailer with the hitch lock and wheel boot. They could see via the surveillance video that the thieves tugged on both devices then quickly moved on to the next trailer.

We were using the same hitch lock on Rosie, but we didn't have a wheel boot. I asked our neighbors if they researched what boot to buy or did they simply select one off the shelf. As you would expect, they researched both the hitch lock and the wheel boot. Needless to say, we immediately ordered a wheel boot for Rosie. 

A couple of days before heading home, we called the property manager of where we store Rosie. He told us that the renovations to the property were on-going and that the electricity was still off to the property except for the office area. When asked about the power-driven gate and the security cameras, he said that the gate will not lock again until all renovations are complete and the power was turned back on. We could simply open the gate by hand. 

When asked about the security cameras, he said that some security cameras were operating. My interpretation was that the cameras attached to the office worked while the others around that compound were dark. 

That made our decision easy as to where we would store Rosie before our next adventure. We took Rosie to the RV Storage lot on the military base near our home and parked her there. When we pulled up to the gate and the armed and professional Military Police officer checked our IDs before allowing us to pass, we knew that Rosie would be safe there. 

We plan to go back to what we call Fort Rosie after the renovations are completed because there are advantages to storing Rosie inside a warehouse. But for now, the added security of storing Rosie on a military base overrides other options.

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were multiple loops in the campground
• Our site was a back in
• Our site did not have shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt and was level
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection. We needed 30 feet of sewer hose to reach the connection 
• There was a dump station in this park
• The one and only trash dumpster for all 500 campsites in this park was near the front of the campground. Granted, it was a "super-duper" dumpster with a trash-masher to make more room in it. Still, it filled up fast and we ended up having to drive to it every day
• No, really! There was only one trash dumpster in this campground and people camped in one of the park's 500+ sites have to take their trash to it. Yes, we frequently saw lines of trucks waiting to approach the dumpster
• There were multiple bathhouses in the campground 
• The park provided amazing WiFi service. We measured our WiFi download speed at 46 Mbps
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, Circle, Comet, Court-TV, ION, LAFF, ME-TV, Retro and Stadium
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

The famous water tower 

A somewhat unique sign near our campsite

Selfie at the Butterfly house

They must be expecting some very large visitors at this campground

Evidence that they have ice cream in Gulf Shores, Alabama